Vibrations Part 1: Things Burnt, Lost and Learnt
by hydroknight01
Summary: It had been months since the airship and the Battle of the Burnt Coast, and Toph was bored...but that was nothing a roadtrip couldn't fix. And if there was something in it for Sokka to tag along, that just made it all the better...
1. Prologue

**Hey, guys. This is a little something we've been working on recently; it's still in the early stages yet, we're still working heavily on it, but eventually we mean this to be a multi-part story. I'm not sure how many chapters this first part will come to, but this is the prologue to our first _Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Aang_ project. Keep your eyes peeled for Chapter 1, hopefully coming soon.**

**From myself and the rest of the team, we hope you guys enjoy this.**

**DISCLAIMER: The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. _Team Hydro_ and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. _Team Hydro_ does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.**

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><p><strong>Vibrations, Part One: Things Burnt, Lost &amp; Learnt<strong>

**Prologue**

It had been months since the airship and the Battle of the Burnt Coast, and now she was bored. Nothing even remotely interesting had happened since Sparky's coronation – _nothing_.

The gang (or "_Gaang_", as their resident idiot had taken to calling them) had set up shop in Ba Sing Se. The big city – how _thrilling_. At least she had Iroh to hang out with everyday, when Sokka was busy arguing with highly-decorated morons at the Palace. She spent most of her time half-hoping her father's goons would arrive to kick the door in and try to bundle her off back home; they never did, but at least it'd give her something to do with her time.

They made regular visits to Sparky's place, whenever Sugar Queen and Twinkle-toes could spare the time. _Fantastic_. Sparring with Mai was fun, if nothing else, but if the Circus Freak tried to braid her hair one more time, she'd break her spindly little legs; as much as she _sometimes_ appreciated Ty Lee's company, there was only so much of the girl's mushy-gushy bisonshit a Blind Bandit could sanely take. Or talk of how the Fruitcake was "recovering". She wasn't the greatest supporter of the acrobat's fondness for Zuko's batshit-crazy sister, and nor was Mai. Katara couldn't even say her name without spitting it, and she hadn't spoken to Aang for a week after he'd talked Zuko out of having the nut-job put out of her misery...something about 'being a compassionate leader'. Sokka called it 'sympathy for the devil', and stayed out of it altogether.

But hey, when she wasn't hitting on Sokka or being all chummy with Suki, the acrobat had some mean skills. Chi-blocking techniques were a handy thing to know, and the Kyoshi Wannabe had been only too happy to teach her; Zuko had frowned on it, but Iroh thought it was funny. Anyone she caught skipping the bill at the Jasmine Dragon these days found themselves half-paralysed by the time they got to the door, and stayed that way until they coughed up what they owed. In the four months since she'd talked the pink-clad Chi master into giving her a few pointers, she and Iroh had straightened out more than half of the tea shop's customer base, and the rest would have their moment sooner or later. Between the Blind Bandit and the Dragon of the West, crooked customers stood little chance; they took turns at playing the bad cop, and their teamwork was almost as flawless as when she had the recently-minted 'Black Wolf of the South' at her back... almost. ..._Pointers_... Sokka always snickered at that joke, until she poked him in the shoulder and his arm went limp; then he just sulked until she'd finished laughing and fixed it...which she always did. Eventually.

Trouble was, said Black Wolf spent most of his time politely telling people of much greater social standing – but not _importance_, she told everyone - how badly they were screwing up the arrangements for the big one-year-of-peace party everyone had planned for a few weeks' time. It pissed her off that he spent more time arguing about civil order and fireworks with the Earth King's gang of decorated idiots than he did raising all manner of hell with her; it wasn't nearly so much fun pulling pranks and ripping off the city's scammers when she had to do it by herself. Sokka came up with all the best ideas...

But maybe this time she had something up her sleeve that just might tear him away from all that for a few weeks. The party could plan its stupid self; she wasn't gonna be there, anyway.

She was bored, bored with how bland and unassuming life had become since the war had come to an end. She _hated_ being bored. She'd been given a taste of the wandering life, of adventure, and then her plate had been taken away from the table – she wanted it back, even if there _was_ only one more mouthful left on it. So maybe what she needed was to get back on the road for a while. Sugar Queen would pitch a fit if she tried to wander off on her own, so Sokka would have to tag along, too; with any luck Katara would insist on it, being all motherly and the like. And it wasn't like there was nothing in it for him... he'd replaced Boomerang easily enough; begrudgingly he'd made another, imported the metal ore and the moulds from the South Pole and everything, and had insisted on teaching her to throw it when it was finished. Now he took it everywhere with him, like a kid with a blanket.

But Space Sword... well, Space Sword was special. It was one-of-a-kind. And he'd lost it – that was her fault, she'd cough to that... But what if she knew where to find it? And not just where, 'cause hey, that was a no-brainer, but _how_ to find it? She'd been practising with the Space Earth lately, moulding it into more and more complicated shapes, and now she had it down pat...

"Hey, Sokka! How 'bout a road trip?" she asked him that afternoon, as he got back to the house from the Palace. He seemed as tired and fed-up as she did, but perked up when she spoke.

"Sounds like a plan," he said with a thankful sigh as he half-fell down next to her on the couch, wearing a smile that she hoped was a sign of his enthusiasm; she could tell he was smiling – why wouldn't he be? She'd learned how to understand stuff like that now too, and was getting better at it all the time.

"Where're we headed?" he asked, his boundless curiosity shining through his tiredness.

Toph grinned. So much for big bad boredom, then...

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><p><strong>Well, it's only a prologue, but we will hopefully have Chapter 1 up soon. In the meantime, let us know what you think.<strong>

**Catch you guys later!**

**_Hydroknight & Team Hydro_**


	2. Ch1: Old Man Weng  The Journey Begins

**What's up, guys? Well, without further ado, here's the first chapter of our new _A:TLA_ piece, _Vibrations_. As mentioned in the Prologue, this is only the first part of the _Vibrations_ story, which we think will have maybe three or four parts (but don't hold us to that; shit happens, and ideas can change with the wind on this creative team), and this is the first chapter of Part 1.**

**Yeah, we have a long way to go yet, and lots of Tokka-y bits to go around before the end. xD**

**A quick shout-out to justthisguyyouknow is in order - many, many thanks for the help with this, you're a legend. Keep up the good work!**

**To the rest of you, enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. _Team Hydro_ and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. _Team Hydro_ does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.**

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><p><strong>Vibrations, Part 1: "Things Burnt, Lost &amp; Learnt"<strong>

**Chapter 1: Old Man Weng/The Journey Begins**

Old man Weng had seen many a traveller in his time, from his seat on the porch of his tiny house on the crest of the hill. Over the forty years since he'd bent his stone home out of the ground, he'd learned to tell the good people from the bad, the well-meaning from the troublemakers, and rarely was he ever wrong. His grey eyes were about the only sharp thing he had left of his youth these days, and they still served him as well now as they had when he could still run up the hill on which he'd set down his roots.

The locals in the village just a little down the way thought he was some kind of a wise-man, but in truth he was just old, and had learned the hard way from all the many mistakes he'd made. And just today, with the sun beating down and the clouds sailing by as they were, of all days today he'd met a fine pair of wandering souls who, he could see, had no doubt made a fair few mistakes of their own in their short time.

The young man was a warrior, Weng could tell even when they were still at the bottom of his hill; he was tall, slim-built, and had the slow and cautious gait of a wilderness man who had survival written in his blood. He wasn't possessed of a Bender's build, and so Weng reasoned that a Bender the boy was not. Eyes proved him true as always, as it turned out; the warrior was a swordsman, and a Water Tribesman to boot. Spirits be blessed, a Water Tribe sword-fighter on his doorstep! This young man had a few yarns he could spin, Weng would wager.

The girl was Earth Kingdom, and a Bender, that much was certain; she wore shoes of a strange sort, ones that had no soles – an Earthbender, then. Though her stature said nothing of her skill, there was more dirt, dust and ragged edges about her clothes than the road could fairly put there, and that told Weng she was one wild fighter. She could brawl with the meanest of them, this one, and put 'em all to shame just for trying, that much his eyes told him just for looking; the way she carried herself said she was due a measure of respect, which Weng was sure to treat her with, for she too was a warrior in her own regard.

Her thick black bangs hung low, hiding her eyes; good for keeping out the glare, Weng supposed. She had a little feral-ness about her, and he figured kids these days'd call her spunky; she could be a bit of a troublemaker when the wind took her that way, he thought, but not of the bad kind – the kind of girl who was as likely to put a stop on a rumble as she was to start one of her own, _and_ finish it. This here was a girl who liked some excitement in her life, and knew how to make some, rules be damned.

When they'd come up close to the house and asked for directions, the boy had been both respectable and respectful, which was more than Weng could say for some of the folks who passed through these parts; he treated a stranger the way he'd expect to be treated himself. Sokka, the boy said his name was, Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, and his companion's name was Toph; _"Call me Bandit,"_ she'd said loudly from her spot keeping watch, out on the road, and Weng had welcomed them both.

He asked where they were bound for, and Sokka's answer surprised him to say the least; the Burnt Coast, of all the places in the wide world, and they'd been on the road out of Ba Sing Se for the last week or so. Weng had wondered what in the world they'd want to visit that still-smouldering wasteland for, to which Sokka had answered sombrely; "To find a good friend,". Weng had nodded in silent understanding, hearing the profound hope hidden beneath the sadness in the the boy's voice, and pried no more; they were on a journey to visit the grave of a companion, Weng guessed, perhaps one who had given their life so the two of them could keep on fighting.

These two looked a little young to have fought in the Hundred-Year War, Weng thought – Toph looked barely into her teen years – and yet, they bore the scars of having done their part; Sokka had a little limp in one of his legs, a busted ankle maybe, probably re-set and put right by a Waterbender he knew, but still taking its time to really _heal_, and only noticeable when you knew what you were looking at; Toph on the other hand, he thought, had scars of a whole 'nother kind - she was quiet, too quiet, for a girl as young as she was...and he wondered to himself, not wanting to pry, if there wasn't a reason she hid her eyes behind that low-hanging fringe, judging by the way she listened so intently to the sounds of the road... Still, not rightly his business, asking any of that.

These two had seen more than their fair share of skirmishes – if they were headed out to the Airship Graveyard, then they'd been right in the thick of it all, near the end. These two were heroes, but probably didn't think themselves so – they'd lost their friend, after all...and if the intensity of Toph's watch on the open road was anything to go on, perhaps they'd almost lost each-other, too.

He'd waved them off, then, after Sokka had thanked him for the directions; as it turned out, they weren't really lost at all, just making sure they were on the right road, keeping track of their progress. The boy seemed an intelligent sort, wise beyond his years, and damned organised – the kid had a good, clever head on his shoulders. They'd head down to the village for some supplies before they took to the road again, Sokka said; Toph didn't like to stick around for long in-case trouble came knocking, and the fuss of fighting would only slow them down, much as she would enjoy it. They'd camp in the forest a few miles up the road tonight, and come tomorrow they'd put a few more miles behind them again. With such steady, methodical progress, they meant to be down on the Burnt Coast in three weeks or so, maybe a fortnight if the weather stayed the way it was.

They were both looking forward to seeing that old friend again, Weng guessed, no matter the shape he was in when they found him – so long as they did find him, and paid him his dues, that's all what mattered.

As the two young souls wished him a good day, and waved good-bye as he thanked them for stopping by, Weng wondered why there weren't more people in the world like those two wanderers – because the world certainly had need of them, to spread that sense of freedom they had, in this new age of peace they'd helped to bring about.

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><p><strong>Well, there's the first chapter done and dusted, Chapter 2 will be on its way shortly.<strong>

**Feedback would be most appreciated - how're we doing so far? We love hearing from everyone!**

**Peace-out, guys. See you next chapter!**

_**Hydroknight & Team Hydro**_


	3. Ch2: The Road Ahead

Whatup, gang? We thought we'd toss up another chapter of _Vibrations, Pt 1_ to celebrate Tokka Week. So, here we are, and here it is. Enjoy, and don't eat it all at once - not only will your screen get soggy, but y'all know how we are with our timekeeping... ¬_¬;

Now for the all-important disclaimer...

**DISCLAIMER: The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. Team Hydro and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. Team Hydro does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.**

...and on with the story!

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><p><strong>Vibrations, Part 1: "Things Burnt, Lost &amp; Learnt"<strong>

**Chapter 2: The Road Ahead**

Toph woke slowly and groggily, to the smell of wild rabbaroo cooking over the fire – Snoozles had breakfast going, then. Good. She was hungry, and he'd promised the night before that by the time she got up, he'd have caught something that actually made a decent meal, as opposed to the crap they'd been offered in the village the day before. Good to know he was still just as good for his word as ever.

It'd been two weeks now since they'd left Ba Sing Se on their trip to the Burnt Coast, and five or six days since the nice old man on the hilltop; they were making good progress, putting some serious mileage behind them with every passing day. As much as she was in no hurry, she still hoped to get there soon; she had things she was looking forward to showing him, things she'd been practising for a long while now. In all honesty, she wholeheartedly hoped to impress him with the new skills she'd learned in the last few weeks...

Sharply, over the crackling fire, there came the steady _shhhk-shhhk-shhhk_ sound of a whetstone on metal – sharpening his damn boomerang again. Typical. It was a pretty safe bet that he'd spend the last half-hour cleaning it, after braining their morning meal with it. Hell, the thing was sharp enough already that he'd probably taken its stupid head off. Wiping the sleep from her eyes with one hand, she motioned to the walls of her earth tent with the other, and the structure collapsed back into the ground; he looked up at the sound of her loud yawn.

"Morning, Toph! Breakfast's nearly ready. Sleep well?"

"No thanks to you and your damn snoring, Stupid. One'a these days I'm gonna bury your head in the sand if you don't get a handle on that..." she grumbled, only half meaning it as she got up from her bedroll and made her way jerkily toward the fire. She was never all that steady on her feet after waking up. "Seriously, Sokka, I'm surprised we don't have every moose-lion in the forest following us, with all the damn noise you make at night."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, rolling his eyes; "It's a family thing, my dad snores too."

"Spirits, how haven't you driven Katara nuts yet?" she laughed good naturedly, and he joined her; every morning had been like this, joking and eating together around the breakfast fire, since they'd hit the road the week before, and at night around the supper fire they shared stories, of the lives they'd lived before either of them had met Aang, and relived their memories of the fun they'd had travelling with the Airbender the year before. Last night she'd regaled him with tales of her bouts and victories in the Earth Rumble tournament, and he'd talked a little about what it was like to grow up at the South Pole.

She had trouble grappling with the idea of snow, didn't really understand what it was – in the Earth Kingdom, the coming of winter just meant it got a little cold, and it rained a lot; she couldn't fathom what it might be like to be surrounded by _absolute_ cold, and having to sleep in the same bed as his sister to share each-other's body heat, for fear of either of them freezing to death overnight. He'd voiced a wish that one day the whole gang might head south for the Winter Solstice celebration, so he could show her his home; how in the world he thought she'd be able to see it, she didn't know, but she didn't want to curb his enthusiasm – she only ever did that when his enthusiasm was _bugging the shit out of her_. She wasn't all that sure about not being able to see for a week either, but she had to admit, the idea of that week being one long party sounded like it just might make up for the fact...

_Shhhk-shhhk-shhhk..._ The sound of the whetstone grinding away at the edge of the metal throwing blade jolted her back to the present, and the crackling of the flames roasting their breakfast; it was about ready now, and she was _starving_. "Mmm... smells done," she muttered, licking her lips in anticipation, "Did you use that special seasoning again? It tasted great last time," She recalled, and of course, didn't see the way he blushed at the praise for his cooking. He'd brought some of his own herbs and spices from the pantry at the house, to improve the taste of the blander meats they'd have to settle for on their trip, and had had to stock up on the ingredients at the last town to make some more, after realising how much she liked it. She was quietly flattered he'd go out of his way to keep her happy like that; hell, she wasn't easy to please at the best of times, but she was still touched that he'd try so hard.

Of course, the seasoning powder was as much for himself as her, but she had a sneaking suspicion he was putting more of it on just because she liked it strong. Normally she hated the taste of rabbaroo, it was too flat, the meat was stringy and too chewy, but somehow he always seemed to cook it just right – when he cooked it, the texture of the meat settled comfortably with her stomach; it was a strange way to describe it, maybe, but there it was.

Breakfast was short-lived; they had some more miles to put behind them today, and the distance wasn't gonna shrink from wishful thinking. And besides... the more time they spent on the road, the more time she had him to herself. And she very much _liked_ that idea, it was half the whole point of their little excursion; the other half... well, the other half was a little bit more complicated.

She'd told him that if the two of them could get out to Wulong Forest – also known these days as the Airship Graveyard and 'The Burnt Coast', seeing how most of the forest wasn't _there_ anymore – she might be able to find Space Sword. The prospect of getting his sword back had excited him, and _distracted_ him from the _how_ part of exactly how she planned to find it over such a vast expanse of ground. For two people with working eyes, it could take months of searching to find the damn thing – but she had a trick up her sleeve, and a damn good one. She'd made a point to avoid explaining to him exactly how she planned to find the sword, because she didn't want to _explain_ it – she wanted to _show_ him, and she couldn't do that properly until they got there. She wanted to impress him, and she couldn't do that with words. He was the one with the silver tongue, not her. But the fact remained that, eventually, it _would_ take some explaining, just for him to make sense of it... _eventually_ being the operative word, right there.

Sokka hoped that in a few days' time, they'd reach the edge of where Wulong Forest once stood, and they could begin their search. But first they had to get there, and as impatient as she was well-known to be, honestly she found herself enjoying every step of the way along the road – because she was walking that road with him, they were travelling together again, and they'd left all their responsibilities behind them at home. Part of her accepted that they could only be gone for so long - this trip wasn't going to take forever, and the world needed him, after all - but another part of her wished they could just keep walking. So long as he was there beside her, yammering away about how great the scenery was and struggling to describe it to her in ways that he believed she could make sense of, she was content to just keep going.

And 'just keep going' was exactly what she intended to do – because something was following them, and had been for about eight or so nights now. She figured that they were about a day's worth of travel ahead of it, and were maintaining that distance from it just by moving on during the day – whatever the hell 'it' was. She wasn't entirely sure, but she knew that it moved at night, steadily making up the distance that they had put between themselves and it while the sun was up. Sokka didn't know they were being followed, and she planned to keep it that way until she couldn't take the risk anymore. She knew that if she made him aware of it, he'd spend every waking minute pondering what was tracking them, and planning how to tackle it when they eventually confronted the problem as they inevitably would. All this would render him quiet, turn his mind inward, and the last thing she needed was him keeping himself to himself. He'd worry himself sick over what they didn't and couldn't know, and she hated it when he did that.

The first night she'd noticed it, she'd been woken by a dull, distant drumming in the surface layers of the earth; quiet, far-off, but moving with intent. The second night it had roused her again, this time not quite so distant, and moving unmistakably _toward_ them, a low rumble of light feet, travelling quickly and efficiently. The next time she'd felt it, it was several nights later, and now she could sense it much more clearly – small feet, perhaps thirty pairs, drumming lightly, rhythmically on the ground.

That night they came too close for her comfort, and she did what she could to scare them off, sending out brief bursts of Earthbending into the topsoil and the layers of stone beneath it; bending over distance was tricky at best, the results were unpredictable, even for her level of skill, but it'd seemed to do the job, for a while at least. Last night had been the first time in the better part of a week that she'd sensed the dim pitter-patter of those many feet again, and while she was still no more knowledgeable about exactly what was following them, she knew this much:

It could only mean trouble.

The thought caused her to scoff silently to herself, _Ha, yeah, right... as if we don't make enough of that by ourselves..._

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><p>So, how're we doing? Ya pleased with it so far? Pissed-off with our erratic scheduling?<p>

Yeah, I'm in one of those moods...again. :P

Let us know what you thought!

**_Hydroknight & Team Hydro_**


	4. Ch3: The Badger Hole

Whatup, guys?

Took a heck of a lot longer to get this one done than I'd hoped; we're juggling a few projects right now, and some of them, admittedly, have been stealing my creativity. But, Chapter 3 is here at last. Enjoy!

****DISCLAIMER: The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. Team Hydro and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. Team Hydro does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.****

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><p><strong>Vibrations, Part 1: "Things Burnt, Lost &amp; Learnt"<strong>

**Chapter 3: The Badger Hole**

The small, quiet town was strangely still as they meandered through the place, Sokka thought. There were people around, sure, but did this place have no market? Where were the street stalls, and the vendors manning them, braying about their wares? Was this seriously the outskirts of a town with an air-pad? Everything seemed...unusually _subdued_...

"Geez, who turned off the life around here? Someone up and die or something?"

The voice of his ever-present companion piped up next to him, loud as this town evidently was not. He grimaced a little, and smiled apologetically at two women talking in a doorway, who turned to glare at the short stranger for her rude comment. Trust Toph to voice what they were both thinking in the most inconsiderate way possible...

"Well, I'm not seeing a funeral march," he answered, "and the place doesn't look like it's in-mourning... maybe they just like it quiet around here?"

"What, no kids playing in the streets? What the hell?"

She'd been moody all morning, he reflected, and now she'd found something to grouch at, her irritation was really taking hold. He could only sigh in exasperation, and shrug, ignoring that the gesture would be lost on her. "You're asking the wrong guy, Toph. I just got here."

"Well, no shit. Make up your mind, Sokka – are you Captain Boomerang, or Captain Obvious?"

"Oh, ha-ha. You're _hysterical_. Let's find a tavern or something, get some answers. The quiet in this place is starting to creep me out..."

They wandered idly for another hour, searching for the local watering-hole, only to come up empty; they passed people in the street, but no-one greeted them. The people here were wary of strangers, it seemed – the reason, whatever it proved to be, was probably a good one. The world was an uncertain place, now the Hundred-Year War was over, and small towns like this one had quickly become safe havens for those who were not entirely welcoming of the new-found peace.

It made a certain kind of sense, he supposed; the war was over, yes, but after the fighting had been going on for so long, both the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation were still home to soldiers who knew nothing else _but _fighting, and it'd take a long time for those soldiers - grandfathers, fathers, sons, nephews - to adjust to the fact that the rest of the world didn't need to be killed on-sight anymore, and the suppression of those battle-honed instincts sure wasn't going to happen over-night. Most men still felt the need to be armed and vigilant when they travelled from one place to the next, and he knew what that was like - he was one of them.

A sudden absence at his side told him Toph was no-longer strolling next to him, and he turned to find her, stood stock-still, about twenty or so paces behind him, staring hard, in her unique way, at the ground beneath her feet. "What's up, Toph?" he asked, curious and concerned at the same time.

"I'm not sure," she called back, "Either this place is built over some kinda cave system, or... something's... not right-"

Abruptly her head jerked to her left, and her arm snapped up to point in the direction of an alley leading off the main street. "Down there!" She was off before he could stop her, and when he finally caught up, she was doing the standing-still-and-staring thing again... but also not, for there was something in her hands, but she had her back to him, and he couldn't see what. As he approached carefully, he saw that she was...playing with her Space Metal?

"...There you are...!" She muttered with a dark smile, before bending the metal into a shape he hadn't seen before – but it was a weapon of some sort, he could tell; some sort of metal bar she'd threaded her fingers through, and looked to nestle with a dangerous kind of comfort across her knuckles. Then, without so much as a word to him about what it was she'd been doing, she stormed up to the wall at the end of the dead-end alleyway and thumped it thrice, hard, with the bottom of her fist. "Hey! Open up!"

"**Password?**"

_...Wait, what?_ Sokka thought, now disturbingly-confused. _Talking wall?_ _What the hell-_

"How the hell should I know? You tell me!" Toph shouted, seemingly to thin air, "What _is_ the damn password?"

"**No password, no ent-**"

"Don't gimme that bisonshit, pal!" She interrupted sharply and loudly, "I'm in a pretty foul mood out here, and I sure-as-shit ain't standing around for the benefit of my health, so you have five seconds to open this stupid door, or _I_ will!" Several tense seconds ticked by, and no answer came the reply. "Fine, then!" she shouted, "That's the way you wanna play it?"

Still confused, Sokka barely had time to react before Toph proceeded to tear into the stone wall standing in front of them, punching it with just that one hand and the Space Metal wrapped around her knuckles. In a single strike she burst through it, and the rock tumbled around her ears; that shocked him somewhat, that she'd done so much damage with only a single hit. Normally it took her two or three well-placed whacks before she could crack stone like that... It dawned on him though, as he wondered about that, that the wall was also not a wall, but a doorway to a hidden tunnel – a doorway that only Earthbenders could open, or in the case of the doorman on the other side, keep closed should someone try to force their way inside.

The doorman hadn't counted, of course, on having to keep that door closed in the face of the World's Greatest Earthbender, and Sokka could only sympathise when he heard the poor soul groaning pitifully under the rubble that remained of the post he'd been dutifully guarding. Toph was something of an irresistible force when it came to her Earthbending, particularly when she was irritated, and Sokka was somewhat sorry for the doorman in that he and his door had by no means been an immovable object. Creeping up to the crumbling wall for a look, he saw the tunnel was dark, and led down; there was a stairway here going down into the earth, and he couldn't see the bottom.

"Halt!" Came a gruff voice at the top of those dark stairs, "Who goes there? Who dares come into _The Badger Hole_ uninvited?"

Toph seemed to stop in her tracks at the sound of the voice, as though she'd heard it before, and was now confused as to why she was hearing it here, of all places; it sounded familiar to Sokka, too... but he just couldn't place it. Her head cocked slightly to one side, eyebrow raised in suspicious surprise, she asked,

"Boulder?"

"...Bandit?"

-x-x-x-x-

Sokka perched himself carefully on the edge of a stool at the bar, nursing a small cup of watered-down fire whisky, and kept one eye on _The Badger Hole_'s various, small few other patrons as Toph and The Boulder played catch-up on the table just off to his right. There were a good few tables, all empty now, during the day, dotted around the floor of the cave – _cavern_ – that served as the basis of the Earthbender bar that was _The Badger Hole_, which as he understood it, was actually an old Earth Kingdom Military base that had been abandoned not long before Katara and his fine self had discovered Aang in the iceberg.

Some genius commander had decided to have the base underground, to make it harder for Firebenders to find, and it wasn't just one cavern, but several, all interlinked by adjoining tunnels, some of which had been sealed off when the place had been re-purposed, due to danger of cave-in or – worse-yet – being full of natural gas. He'd passed on to Boulder that trick he'd thought up with the Mechanist, of tossing in some rotten eggs to keep tabs on potential leaks, and Boulder had promised to pass the idea on the _Hole_'s owner for consideration.

Speaking of the ex-Earth Rumbler turned soldier, from what he'd caught of his story so far, he and The Big Bad Hippo had turned over yet another new leaf since being pardoned and released from the Boiling Rock by Zuko. He, Hippo, and several of the Gaoling Earth Rumble gang had gone mercenary following their finding an Earth Kingdom Military career to be less-than-satisfactory. Their talents had not be given the respect they duly deserved, and they'd encountered rounded disapproval of their disregard for overbearing rules and regulations, and the zealous ways in which those were enforced; now, he and Hippo were currently under employment here at this fine establishment in the middle of nowhere, as what the barkeeper had tenderly referred to as 'bouncers'; basically, they happened to be the most bad-ass Earthbenders the bar had been able to find, and were each provided accommodation and paid a tidy sum to make sure the bar's other patrons, also Earthbenders, didn't get _too_ out of hand when they had a little too much to drink.

Toph thought this was a decent arrangement, but privately Sokka disagreed; considering their reputations as Earth Rumblers, he thought this was something of a spiteful twist of fate for the two of them, and not to mention a dreadful waste of their not-inconsiderable bending talents. But Boulder didn't seem to mind that he'd gotten stuck with nannying a bunch of rowdy drunks day-in, day-out; in-fact, he professed that he and Hippo enjoyed the honest work, and he even thought it left him better-off.

His country, Boulder reasoned, hadn't exactly done him any favours when he was imprisoned following the failed invasion effort, after all, or even made any effort to see him home safely after he and everyone else had been released and officially-pardoned. In all the fuss following the Liberation of Ba Sing Se, the small group of elite Earthbenders who'd volunteered for the invasion force had basically been forgotten by their countrymen, and had found themselves abandoned to whatever fate the new Fire Lord deigned to bestow upon them.

As it turned out, the Foggy Swamp Tribe had been good enough to offer them a ride home, earning themselves the eternal respect of the Earth Rumble crew; Boulder and Hippo had even stayed with the tribe for a while, and had become particularly-good friends of Huu, who they both made a point to visit and stay awhile with whenever the bar could spare either one of them. Heck, Hippo was down there right now, and Huu even kept a pet catgator for him, which Toph found both utterly hysterical and very, very appropriate.

And speaking of Toph... Sokka was beginning to think she'd had more than enough Fire Whisky for one day - for one _week_. She was packing them away like the drink was going out of fashion, which it certainly wasn't, and if he wasn't mistaken... which he also _wasn't_... their dear barkeeper had stopped watering down her drinks. Toph's cheeks were tinting themselves rosy as he watched, and she was starting to slump a little bit in her seat.

This did not bode well.

"Scuse me! Hey, barkeep!" He called over his shoulder to the thin man, who stood at the opposite end of the long bar polishing a cup, and didn't look remotely interested in paying him a lick of attention, until he raised his own cup, indicating to the man that he wanted another. Duly, the man put down his polished cup and scuttled over, only to be disappointed when Sokka placed the palm of his hand firmly over the top of his cup, and said quietly,

"When, _exactly_, did I tell you to stop watering down my friend's drink? At what point in time did either myself, or The Boulder there, say you should do that?"

The man squirmed, paling a little at the accusation, and at the sight of both Toph and Boulder turning their heads to see what the fuss was about. "Th-the lady said she wanted something a little...little stronger. I'm just... just doin' my job, sir."

Sokka frowned. Clearly the man was hoping he'd had a little too much of the sauce himself, and that he was an amicable drunk. Alas, while he had an intense aversion to disappointing people's expectations of himself, he was _not_ drunk, and he sure-as-shit wasn't feeling remotely amicable at this precise moment. Without another word he reached over his shoulder for his boomerang, and swung the blade sharply down toward the surface of the bar-top, in the way one might swing a butcher's cleaver; the cutting edge sunk deeply into the sandstone, and stuck there. The barkeeper's face turned a little more grey.

"I don't recall the lady saying that," Sokka hissed, his features darkening a little more at the small man's silent admission of guilt, "For that matter I don't recall the lady even so much as approaching the bar. You a bender, barkeep?" Sokka asked, to which the man shook his head slightly, eyes still riveted firmly to the _insanely_-sharp metal throwing blade currently embedded in his bar-top. "Well, that's good then," Sokka chimed, an ill-coloured note in his voice, causing the man to look up at him at last.

"I-if sir wouldn't mind clarifying... why is that good, exactly?"

Sokka placed both hands on the bar, splaying his fingers widely to either side of his boomerang, and in a swift movement yanked the blade out and sheathed it, before leaning sharply toward the man in a manner that could be considered vaguely-threatening, if one was so-inclined to think that way – which, the man found with a worried glance, his resident bouncer didn't seem to think was the case at all. Sokka clicked his fingers, and the barkeeper's attention returned to where it should be. "It's good because if you don't care to apologise to the young lady, who's _thirteen_ and not_ old enough_ to get _drunk_, it'll be a very-remotely fair fight when you and I take this rather serious matter outsi-."

Without warning, behind him Toph jumped up and wrenched her seat from the floor, and hurled it in the direction of the stairs with an angry yell; a man who'd been sitting there quietly ducked down as the chair sailed over his head, then leaped for cover – and the stairs. Toph stamped her foot, and the ground there shook and broke; the stairway leading back to the street cracked, crumbled and fell apart. No-one was going anywhere until she felt like letting them.

"...Toph?" Sokka had the barkeeper by the scruff now, and was becoming increasingly concerned by the turn of events...she'd been acting weird for a day or two, and he wasn't all that sure she'd been sleeping enough... He knew from experience that the less sleep she got, the more _aggressive_ she got... This whole mess was just a snowball's toss from getting nasty and yet _nastier_.

"This asshole's been givin' us the stink-eye since we got here," Toph growled darkly, pointing at the odd fellow backing desperately into a corner; his face was wrapped in a scarf - Sokka didn't much like what that implied. "And to top it all off," Toph continued, "our dear barkeeper's heart is makin' more noise than a lunatic goin' nuts on a thunder-drum. They _know_ each-other, and they're up to something. I wanna know _what_, and if I have to bust some heads to get answers, you can bet your ass I _will_."

Promptly Sokka dragged the bartender over the bar top, scattering cups and their contents every-which way; "Have a _seat_, pal," he muttered darkly, shoving the skinny man into a chair, "We'll get to you in a minute. Boulder, keep an eye on our _friend_ here while I see if I can't get some sense outta Toph." As Sokka turned away to find out what all the fuss was in-aid of, Boulder put a large and calloused hand on the smaller man's shoulder, and began to wonder exactly what his young friends had stepped into this time.

Sokka trotted the short distance to join his scowling companion, who was currently stomping meaningfully toward their uninvited guest, and stepped next to her carefully as she stopped a few paces short of Mr One-Man-and-His-Corner. Before he could pitch an enquiry, Toph growled, "Why are you following us?"

"Easy Toph, we don't know this guy's fol-"

"Quiet, Sokka. You don't know the half of it," she snarled over her shoulder at his attempts to calm her, before taking another threatening step toward the stranger cowering in the corner. "_Talk_, dammit, before I put another hole in your ass." She summoned a fist-sized stone as she spoke, crushing it in on itself and compacting it to the size of a pebble, before flinging it at the wall behind the poor soul; a pebble-sized and very _deep_ hole appeared in the rock-face a few inches left of his chest, punctuating her threat. "_Why_ are you _following_ us?" The man began to visibly shake, a reaction that was quite understandable; an angry Toph tended to have that effect on people. Sokka stared at that hole in awe for a second; that pebble had to have been denser than steel, the way she'd compacted it so tightly... He was used to her tearing rocks apart with her bare hands, but last time he'd checked, what she'd just done was the kind of thing only _Aang_ could do, and that was while he was in the Avatar State... so since when had _Toph_ been able to do _that_?

Three more fist-sized rocks floated up from the rubble of the stairs at her command, crushed in on themselves, and began to spin in circles about her upturned palm, her fingers clenched tightly in a claw. She could fire those pebbles with a twitch of a finger, Sokka reasoned, and yes, they would indeed put another hole in the man's backside, or wherever else they might happen to strike. _Nasty,_ he thought, _and getting nastier, if he doesn't start talking soon-_

"Talk, if I were you, pal..." Toph said lowly, dangerously, "'Cus I can do this _all day long_..."

"Tammet! Tammet sent me!" The man shouted desperately, "Please, I'm just doing what I'm tol—ahh!"

Another pebble-sized hole appeared in the wall, between his arm and his right side – his second warning. Toph shouted again. "Who's Tammet? What's he want with us?"

"M-mercenaries! Head-hunters! He-he's the boss, they paid me to follow you, I don't know why-"

"Bisonshit! You're _lying_!" Another pebble disappeared into the wall, this time near the man's head.

"Stop!" The bartender shouted from behind them, "He's just a messenger, he's telling the truth!" Sokka turned to look at him, saw the panic in the man's face; either he was afraid enough for his friend that he was prepared to spill the beans, or was afraid his chum here was going to say something that'd get them both into more trouble than either of their lives was worth.

"Whadda y'mean?" Sokka demanded, "What _kind_ of messenger?"

"He runs the Messenger Hawk service here in town! We got a message a week ago, two travellers headed for the Burnt Coast! He paid us to keep you here when you arrived! That's all we know, I swear!"

"Someone told them we were coming..." Toph muttered darkly, turning back to Messenger-Man. "Who told you? Who sent that message?"

"I don't know, it wasn't signed, Tammet's messages are never signed! All I know is the bird came out of Ba Sing Se, the middle ring! That's all, I swear!"

"If you lie to me _one_ more time, I'm gonna put this pebble through your throat-"

"Toph-!"

"-_Tell me!_"

Messenger-Man stared at her, eyes big as oranges, and she could smell the fear pouring off him; pungent, acrid, so thick her stomach started doing flip-flops, and she forced down the urge to throw up. But while a good, healthy measure of that fear was for her...the best part of it wasn't. "He's coming," the poor man muttered, the terror evident now in his wavering voice, "Tammet's on his way here. He's due in three days."

-x-x-x-x-

They crashed in the small, silent town for the next three days. Sokka's first instinct had been to get them both on the first airship heading in the vague direction of the coast that they could board, and do so as fast as humanly possible; Toph, though, had never put much stock in the idea of running and hiding. So instead, she insisted that they wait, and see what might happen. Boulder arranged for them to be put up in a guest house near the air-pad, one that Sokka had inspected and deemed suitable for their needs: a stone structure so Toph could see in all directions at all times, a variety of escape routes leading to the general area around the air-pad, and most-importantly, a well-stocked pantry.

Their host seemed pleasant enough, an elderly and well-spoken woman with greying hair and bright, sparkling jade eyes, whose name Sokka couldn't quite get his tongue around - so he called her Tao, the first syllable of her name, which she didn't seem to mind. Tao was amicable; she laughed at his bad jokes, listened intently to their war-stories, and rolled her eyes amusedly whenever Toph cussed venomously in her frustration at having to sit around waiting for something, anything to happen. The old woman seemed frail in appearance, but proved fit and able for her age; she reminded Sokka of his Gran-Gran, and it was a welcome comparison. She complimented his cooking skills once or twice, and after tasting Toph's favourite seasoning, she immediately wanted to buy the recipe from him; not wanting to take what little money she had, he accepted no more than a single copper piece, and she thanked him generously.

And so they waited, in the presence of an excellent host and Boulder's good company, for three days and three nights. Every day, as he had been doing since they'd left Ba Sing Se, Sokka was up before first light, eyes glued to the air-pad and the coming-and-going of the airships, five in and and five out every day, each destined for different parts of the Earth Kingdom. Toph was never more than a few minutes behind him in waking. She refused to explain to him why she'd been so insistent that Messenger-Man had been following them; they never saw another hair of the fellow. She also skirted nervously around his questions pertaining to her new skills; all he managed to extract from her was a promise that she would explain everything once they reached their ultimate destination.

The third day drew to a close, and the pair of them watched the air-pad deep into the night, to guard against an airship landing under cover of darkness and this 'Tammet' trying to take them by surprise. They slept in shifts, each watching for an hour while the other rested. They waited, and waited.

Dawn broke, the fourth day came and went. They'd waited in vain.

That afternoon, Toph's last fine thread of patience finally snapped, and she did something extraordinary, and frightening: in her frustration, she went back to _The Badger Hole__, alone,_ and tore the place apart with her bare hands. She ripped great holes in the floor, and smashed the walls to rubble, screaming and howling like some demented spirit on a rampage. She made no threats, never said a word. Finally, she sank her fingers into a rock pillar holding the roof up and tore it down, bringing half the ceiling down with it. The bartender cowered behind what remained of his bar, clutching a crumpled scroll in his hands, and managed to mutter three words before passing out in terror.

"Tammet's not coming."

Toph left then, satisfied with being told what she already knew - but not before relieving him of that scroll, and bringing the rest of the ceiling down. And that was the end of _The Badger Hole_.

An hour later, the two of them were ready to leave, and Boulder to leave with them. The scroll contained a simple message, telling the barman and his messenger friend that they'd failed in their allotted task, and would answer for their failure accordingly; exactly what punishment they'd face the scroll didn't detail, and Sokka only saw that as yet more reason to get out of town. Tao worried for them, and was sorry to see them go; Sokka told her they'd be alright, and that she was welcome to stay with them, should she ever find herself in Ba Sing Se. Toph promised her a pot of Iroh's finest Jasmine Tea, and, unbeknownst to Sokka and Bolder, left the woman a gift of two gold coins – such wonderful hospitality, she reasoned, should not go unrewarded.

-x-x-x-x-

The airship left Toph feeling daunted, even if she wouldn't admit it. She didn't know where they were flying to, other than that they were headed for the coast – and nor did she care. The last time she'd been on one of these things, she and Sokka had almost fallen to their deaths. She felt her apprehension was understandable, and privately, Sokka agreed. Boulder had been on airships before, but only of this newer, civilian kind; he'd never been on a military airship before, and so he couldn't know how being in the air on a metal balloon would never be the same for either of his two young friends as it was for him.

They flew through the night. Sokka slept fitfully; Toph could only cling to him in their small, single-bed cabin, too terrified to sleep herself. She spent the night swearing to herself that she would never speak of the fear she felt in her heart at being back on an airship – not if she could help it, at least. She couldn't know it was a promise that, like her fear of airships, would return to haunt her thereafter, in the weeks and months to come.

The next morning they landed at a coastal town on the outskirts of a mangrove forest in the early, misty hours. The air-pad was more or less right on the docks, and not far from it there lay a short earthen jetty, where a small skiff canoe floated, its pilots chatting idly near by. One of them held a long, narrow pole against his shoulder, and both wore long loin cloths. As they disembarked from the airship, Toph had never been so happy to have her feet back on solid ground again, even if it was cold and a little muddy. Sokka, still sleepy, thought he recognised the place somewhat, from their travels the year before; maybe Appa had flown over here...?

Boulder was merely happy to have returned at last to that place where he and Hippo would always have a home waiting for them. One of the skiff pilots spotted him, and waved; the Earthbender returned the gesture with a bark of hearty laughter. "Friends," he said, turning to Sokka and Toph with a wide, proud grin and outstretched arms, as though embracing the very sight of the forest before him, "The forest and the good people here will make us safe from Tammet and his men. The Boulder is most proud to welcome you to his cherished home from home. Welcome to Foggy Swamp."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

And that's another chapter wrapped. So, Foggy Swamp, eh? This next one will be fun, methinks... :P Also, The Boulder's back! We love Boulder, he's awesome. And Tammet... who told him Toph and Sokka were on their travels? Why'd he change his mind about riding into town? Yeah... we're not done with that, not by a long country mile. Keep them eyes peeled, people. )

Oh well, onto the next chapter!

Peace out, guys!


End file.
